Google’s Nest cameras can now tell you when your garage door is open -Gudstory

Google is adding a new garage door detection feature to its Nest security cameras that will alert you if your garage door is left open. The company is also bringing the first-generation Google Nest Outdoor Cam to the Google Home app and finally allowing Nest Cam users to create custom clips in the Google Home app.

These new features are part of the public preview of the Google Home app and are rolling out this week. Adina Roth, product manager for Google Home & Nest, announced the update in a blog post on Wednesday.

According to Roth, the garage door detection feature can detect and alert you when the door closes, opens or remains open. “We’ve expanded our advanced AI powered image detection and improved the built-in on-device intelligence to detect when your garage door has been left open,” he said. Google Nest cameras currently have intelligent alerts that leverage the same technology to identify people, animals, vehicles, and packages (for its doorbell cameras).

You should be able to set how long the door will remain open before the alert is sent in the Google Home app, and the app will send a snapshot of the door along with the alert, as well as a video recording of when the door opens or closes. ,

No additional sensors or hardware are required, but you will need a Nest Aware subscription (starting at $8 per month) and a Nest Cam (indoor, wired, 2nd generation) or a Nest Cam (battery), wired for Power to work with convenience.

The new feature is not compatible with the first-generation Nest Cam Indoor or the first-generation Nest Cam Outdoor, both of which now work in the Google Home app.

Of course, the camera won’t be able to close the door for you – for that, you’ll have to get out of bed or invest in a smart garage door controller (we’ve got some suggestions for those who don’t here, called MyQ). The feature is rolling out this week, and Google has a guide for setting it up here.

Meanwhile, the slow, inexorable death of the Nest app continues as Google announces the next camera it will ship to the Google Home while retaining all of its features. The first-generation Nest Outdoor Cam (the white one that’s wired) is now supported in the Google Home app, along with the first-generation Nest Indoor Cam (the black one that retains the Dropcam look).

If you choose to carry your camera around On the Google Home app, you’ll be able to watch recorded clips as well as see the full history, event list, and timeline view from the camera. You can also adjust camera settings in the Home app. This means you can add its features to Google Home for smart home automation, including using camera events as triggers for automations.

For now, if you decide you don’t like the new experience, you can still send it back to the Nest app. But you can’t have it both ways.

This camera-by-camera rollout has been frustrating for Nest users, who still have to toggle between the two apps if they have older Nest cameras and have to use the Google Home app if they want to do something other than watch a live stream. Have to use. They’re still waiting for support for the Nest Cam IQ (indoor and outdoor), the Nest Hello doorbell, and the Nest Hub Max’s inside camera. Still no news about the Nest Protect smoke alarm, which doesn’t even appear in the Google Home app; If nothing else, at least you can watch live streams from all Nest Cams in the Home app.

But there is another good news for Nest Cam users. Google is adding the ability to download custom-length clips from your video history, a feature you used to only get in the Nest app. You can now create clips from existing events and from any point on your timeline (if you pay for 24/7 continuous recording).

Roth explained that you’ll be able to trim an existing event video clip “by simply choosing the start time and selecting the length of the clip from a set of options,” including the full event, 30 seconds, and one minute.

Roth also confirmed that Google is working on adding event and timeline history to Google Home for Web, along with the ability to download clips (currently, you can only view live feeds). But he did not give any details about when it would arrive.

Finally, the news everyone has been waiting for: Nest Doorbell holiday themes will return on December 1st.